228 A MEDLEY OF SPORT 



said the farmer between the puffs which he took at a great 

 Dutch china pipe, the bowl of which held not much less 

 than half-an-ounce of Boer tobacco. 



The proposed coot drive agreed upon nem, con., 

 away we started for the pan of water in a Cape cart and 

 a four-seated " spider," a small regiment of Kaffir 

 beaters bringing up the rear at the " double," whooping 

 and yelling as they ran like so many devils incarnate, or 

 Donnybrook roysterers. 



While driving across the veldt a rather extraordinary 

 incident happened. A single red-winged francolin got 

 up from almost under the fore-hoof of the leaders of the 



Cape cart team, and Jan V , in making a cut at the 



bird with his long raw-hide whip, brought it down with 

 a broken neck as cleanly as though it had been shot. 



At length, after some thirty minutes' drive, we arrived 

 on the shore of a large reed-fringed piece of water upon 

 which were to be seen several heavy " paddlings " of 

 different kinds of wild duck, while a great colony, 

 numbering some thousands of coots, had taken possession 

 of one end of the lagoon. At a single glance, it was 

 evident to me that five times the number of our small 

 party of guns would not have proved too many to have 

 made a really successful drive of the pan. 



Former experiences having taught us that native 

 beaters cannot or will not refrain from making a hulla- 

 baloo when engaged in hunting of any description, unless 

 they be led by a white man. Hood, being the youngster 

 of the party, was told off to conduct the drive ; but he 



